“Pick me!” This is a cry often heard while doing children’s work. When choosing someone to come and be a helper or try an experiment, there is never a lack of excitedly waving hands. They are all eager to be chosen.
That affirmation of being chosen is a longing that each one of us have. Moreover, that moment when we are chosen, we feel accepted, wanted and loved. Being chosen brings with it the feelings of acceptance and love. As we grow older those waving hands are lowered and outspoken words cease. Yet our hearts still cry out to be chosen, to be selected on purpose.
I had read it in a book, heard about it on a podcast and found that being chosen was threaded through the Scriptures. What was God trying to teach me? Where had I missed the signposts of my own chosenness in life?
God’s Choice at the Beginning of Time
God chose mankind to be the crowning jewel of his creation. He chose to have an intimate relationship with Adam and Eve. It was a relationship based on the choice of the will. God’s will had been done. This was what he had created them for. On the other hand, to be all the relationship was to be there had to be a choosing on Adam and Eve’s part. In the process of time, they chose their own way over God’s.
At this juncture, the connection was severed and sin, shame and doubt rushed into the world. Since this moment we have doubted that we are chosen by God. Furthermore, when sin and failure stare us in the face we turn away in despair. However, with certainty God declares that you are chosen in spite of the mess you have made.
Chosen with Love
As time moved on, we see God calling out specific people for different tasks, as well as a specific nation so that in turn God’s choosing and calling could be proclaimed to the whole world. A calling by God of individual chosenness. Hear God’s tender voice of love as he proclaims his selection:
“…the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself…The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more…but because the LORD loved you…”
Deuteronomy 7:6-8
God has chosen you. Not because you were more, nor because you were without flaw. God chose you simply because he loves you. The choice he made for you enfolds you in his unfailing and steadfast love. A love that is unconditional. It is not qualified by what you do, how you act or what you own. But it is a love that whispers, “I choose you.”
Hand-picked by God
It falls like summer rain on my soul, this understanding that I am chosen. I have been selected by name and am enfolded in his always and forever love. It washes away the past incidents of being picked over and not good enough to be elected for a position on a team or chosen to be a friend. The shadowed corner where I had stood as a child was lit with the acceptance and love of God. No longer need I fear rejection. I am hand-picked by God. Chosen, celebrated and cherished.
As we wend our way through the pages of Scripture, we find that we are chosen so that we might know God. That relationship that he chose at the beginning of time is still at the center of God’s heart. The very God of heaven invites us to know him.
Isaiah records the words of God as he pours out his assurance of love and care for his people. God reminds them of who he is: the LORD, Creator, Redeemer, Savior and Holy One. This God chooses you. He makes all the difference when you walk through deep waters of oppression or rivers of difficulty. You are precious to God. He will not leave you to walk alone. Remember that God’s choice of you includes his unfailing love for you. He will guide you deeper into himself, so that you can know him.
In this 43rd chapter of Isaiah, God shares who he is with us. Moreover, God also shares who you are to him. Chosen and cherished. Stop and still before your Maker. Walk deeper into your knowledge of who God is and rest in the fact that this God has chosen you. Now and for all time. Always and forever.
Chosen and Accepted
When faced with doubts and failures remind your soul of the truth of your chosenness. It’s not based on your merit or how you perform. God chooses you because he loves you and you are precious in his sight.
The shadowed room of past rejection can be replaced by the sure foundation that you are chosen by God. When life pushes you down and leaves you alone and forgotten, don’t forget to remember that God has not forgotten you. That longing to belong, that ache to be chosen and selected on purpose can be filled by God’s choice of you, if you will let it. The reality is that you are chosen, accepted and cherished. You are loved like you were his only child.
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